Improvement in barrels for packing fruit



A. BUROKARD. Barrel for Packing Fruit.

No.-203,fl5. Patented April 30,1878;

/ i l z ine sse I Inventor: M% M M 'o er UNITED'STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUSTUS BURGKARD, OF GRISFIELD, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO ISAAC H. OOULBORN'E. a

IMPROVEMENT IN BARRELS FOR PACKING FRUIT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 203,1],5, dated April 30,1878 application filed March 16, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS BURCKARD,

of Crisfield, in the county of Somerset and State of Maryland, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in a Barrel for Packing Fruit; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is arepresentation of perspective view of my fruit-barrel, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a stave of my fruit-barrel.

The nature of my invention consists in the construction of a ventilating-barrel, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

The annexed drawings, to which reference is made, fully illustrate my invention.

My improved ventilating-barrel is composed of a series of staves, A A, of equal width and thickness from one end to the other. The ends of the staves A A .are chamfered and crozed in the usual manner for the reception of the heads B B, which are made of several pieces, or in sections cut out as shown in Fig. 1, so that when put together slots 12 b will be formed in each head for ventilation.

In the center of each stave A, on the inner side, is made a groove, a, across the entire stave, said groove having parallel walls, and

is of a depth about equal to one-half the thickness of the stave. These grooves allow the staves to be bent in the center, so that the barrel will bulge outward from each end, the

two outer edges of each groove closing together, as shown at a in Fig. 1.

On the inside of the barrel, covering these grooves a a, is a band, 0, and the barrel is held together by outside hoops D. The staves being of uniform width their entire length causes openings to be left in the barrel, as

shown at d d, which openings are the widest in the center of the barrel, and gradually diminish in width to the ends, where the staves are close together. The interior center band C strengthens the barrel at the point where, on account of the grooves a, the staves are the weakest, and the exterior bands or hoops D make the barrel perfectly firm and solid.

This barrel is intended mainly for shipping oranges, lemons, and other fruit, and it can be made very cheap, as the staves may be made of the cheapest and commonest wood.

A head may be inserted in the center of the barrel and held by the inside. band C, if desired.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the staves A, provided with the parallel Walled central grooves a, the

slotted heads B, interior central band 0, covering the groove 0, and exterior hoops 1), substantially as and for the purposes set fiorth.

In testimony that I claim the above Fhave hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

AUGUSTUS BURGKARD. Witnesses:

THOMAS S. HonsoN, E. It. GUNLEY. 

